Worst Man Down
Director: Ted Koland
Running Time: 89 Minutes
Starring: Justin Long, Jess Weixler, Tyler Labine, Addison Timlin
Upon viewing Best Man Down, one question comes to mind: What was director Ted Koland aiming to achieve? Was the overall idea to make a drama with comedic moments, or a comedy with moments of drama? For example, one scene shows Justin Long struggling to deal with how to ship the body of his deceased best friend home. What follows that is his wife, played by Jess Weixler, unzipping the bodybag and taking a look at the privates of the dead body. It's scenes like this which make it a conundrum as to whether Koland himself knew what he was trying to achieve.
Following their wedding night, newlyweds Scott (Long) and Kristin (Weixler) find the best man, Lumpy (Labine), had unexpectedly died. They cancel their honeymoon to make arrangements for the funeral, and discover there was more to Lumpy than they realized. Part of this involves Ramsey (Timlin), and the drama that comes from her mother's meth-head boyfriend, poorly played by Evan Jones. It becomes clear later on what importance Ramsey held in Lumpy's life, but the melodramatic nature of her scenes and the initial disconnected feel of the scenes makes them feel superfluous.
What doesn't help is how moments of emotion that occur feels forced, with one scene of Timlin recounting her tragic past standing out as feeling tacked on. It's a shame, since the cast do good work, they just get saddled with weak material. Jess Weixler is the most unfortunate, coming off as insensitive as she constantly complains about missing her honeymoon right after Lumpy's death.
The tonal inconsistencies of Best Man Down are troublesome, to say the least. The tacked-on emotional moments and the melodramatic subplot make for a waste of time, to say the most.
Comments